


ComPong!

by ComPong



Category: Pong
Genre: College Setting, Everyone is Queer, Love Triangles, M/M, Multi, Pong as a sports anime, Slow Burn, pong as a metaphor for masturbation, pong as a metaphor for sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:06:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25034422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComPong/pseuds/ComPong
Summary: Rudy Richter was just your average engineering student, until his far too charismatic classmate introduced him to the epic highs and lows of college pong homebrew. Can he get a grip on a deceptively simple game in time to get a grip on Jasper's heart? Does ComPong have what it takes to become a legitimate Esport? And how on earth is that dude in the suit playing with a DDR mat?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> There are two works in the Pong tag, with less than three hundred words between them.
> 
> Such a noble game deserves a little love, don't you think?

_Okay._

_Take a breath. Your world is darkness, but not entirely. You're not without hope. You just need to_

_Focus_

_On_

_The_ **_Light_ ** _._

Still, Rudy thought, it was easier said than done. Twenty years of life hadn't come anywhere close to preparing him for this. Then again, it barely qualified as life. School. Work. An endless, back and forth volley of mediocrity and exhaustion, from wake to sleep. Right here, right now, he couldn't think of a single moment that even came _near_ to how he felt. He'd heard rumors, of course, whispers from friends who'd wanted to seem more mature than they were, but he'd always written them off. After all, nothing ever lived up to the hype. Why set himself up for disappointment, right?

But this…

Damn if it wasn't better than he'd heard.

He swallowed, involuntarily, and was suddenly keenly aware of the sweat travelling down his neck. His grip tightened, and he let out a brief gasp at how perfectly it fit in his right hand, as he used his left to wipe the sweat from his brow. He couldn't believe he'd waited all of this time to finally try it. If it was _this_ intense by himself, he couldn't even begin to imagine how it would feel with someone else…

Almost on cue, he felt Jasper's hand on his shoulder, tight grip followed by hot breath on his ear. "Don't stop, you're doing 

|A

M

A

Z

I

N|

G."

Idly, Rudy started to wonder if he could actually die from embarrassment. Still, at least Jasper was the only one who could see him right now. There were definite benefits to playing by yourself in a friend's room.

"Thanks?" He managed, voice raising in surprise as much as it did in question. "But I just got lucky."

"Not yet you haven't," Jasper replied, and Rudy felt his classmate's fond chuckle travel down his spine. "I've been watching you this whole time, remember? You saw what you wanted, what you _needed,_ and you went for it. That ain't luck, Rudy. You've got this. Now finish it."

Rudy nodded, eager not to disappoint. As hard as it was, he cleared his mind of shame, of the warmth of Jasper's presence, of his watching eyes, and _focused_ . His grip loosened slightly, and he carefully tilted his hand forward. Jasper was right, he was close. _Damn_ close. Now he just needed to bring it home. A nervous grin made its way to Rudy's lips, before being replaced by a determined, confident smirk.

Nine - Zero.

All he saw was the Light.

Thirty-six points of light broke up an otherwise endless void of utter darkness. Of those, twenty-nine could be safely ignored, irrelevant dashes that bisected the abyss. Four more were purely informational, three zeros and a nine at the top of his vision. That left three that actually mattered - two identical white bars on opposite ends of existence, the one on his left matching the movement of his right hand in a dichotomous display of synchronicity that was almost intoxicating.

And finally, a single point. An alabaster square that single-handedly justified the capital L in "Light." A shape so beautiful, so breathtaking, that Rudy knew in his heart that he'd see its beguiling ballet every time he closed his eyes. Left to right to left again, arcing perfectly, again and again, until, inevitably…

The bar on the right simply couldn't keep up, and its quadrilateral quarry rocketed beyond its reach, and off into the infinite. 

Rudy was dimly cognizant of the fact that Jasper said _something_ as the numbers in the upper left shifted yet again, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

One more.

Rudy pulled back, his bar following, as yet another square headed to the top right of the screen. The opposing paddle rose to meet it, knocking the ball at an angle back towards his screen. His eyes locked on to the bouncing square, and he shifted position slightly. He was _reasonably_ certain there wasn't any sort of spin mechanism, per se, but he had noticed that the part of the paddle that made contact determined the angle it would send the ball. With that in mind, if he just moved the tiniest bit up...

A!

H |

C

T 

O

G

Jasper let out a whoop of joy, and Rudy, more exhausted than he anticipated, gently placed the joystick down. 

"Damn, Rudes! You sure you've never done this before?" Jasper was grinning ear to ear, and Rudy couldn't help but smile back.

"Never." He paused, then tilted his head, still processing the rush. "And the computer was fun and all, but you said you do this _competitively?_ With _people?_ "

" _Hell_ yeah." Jasper winked, conspiratorially. "Whaddya think? Wanna give it a go?" 

Rudy nodded, and glanced back at the screen. 11 - 0. He really couldn't think of anything he'd rather do. "What do I need to know?"

The answer, he discovered, was quite a lot.

While Pong itself was the _basis_ of Jasper's hobby, the actual software was decidedly different. ComPong, as it was apparently named, had been thrown together by a handful of friends around five years ago, allegedly as something between a joke and a dare. The group had ended up divided between a few different colleges, and brought ComPong with them, where it had gained a life of its own.

Not much of a life, of course - Jasper had been quick to point out that there were maybe a hundred players, total. They were all trying to spread the word, though, and get the game taken seriously as a legitimate esport. A little difficult, he had admitted, when it seemed like a simple derivative of a sixty year old game, but its humble origins belied its unique complexity.

"Now, the weird thing is that there was just straight up _no_ meta scene for the original Pong game," Jasper continued. "Sixty years, and it doesn't even have so much as a joke entry on GameFAQs. There's no strategy guide, no subreddit, nothing."

"Is that weird, though? It's not like there's room for super complex techniques, or anything." Rudy, at this point, was belly down on Jasper's bedroom floor, scribbling notes into a borrowed notebook. "Hit the ball until the opponent doesn't. It was pretty intuitive."

His impromptu teacher shot him another wink, and Rudy busied himself by staring at his hasty handwriting, suddenly very glad that his skin tone didn't lend itself to visibly blushing. He still wasn't exactly used to having friends who hadn't known him growing up, especially friends who were as… boisterous as Jasper. Or, for that matter, as muscley. He had struck Rudy as the kind of guy who'd be more at home doing keg flips in letterman jacket than spending half an hour on a Friday night lecturing his communication studies classmate on the history of the competitive Pong scene. 

Still, his clear passion, and the joy in his eyes, was intriguing, albeit distracting, and Rudy was quietly thrilled that he rated the attention.

The tight-shirted, charming-smiled, curly-haired attention.

"Intuitive, sure, but uncharted. No one ever thinks there's more to it, so no one ever really looked. I bet it seemed like there was spin on the ball when you hit it a certain way, right?"

Rudy shook his head, and tapped his pen against his bottom lip. "Nah. That'd make sense, but it'd be pretty complicated to do back in those days, right? I'm pretty sure the ball's return vector was dependent on the part of the paddle I hit it with, not how the paddle was moving. I counted…" He gave a brief hum of thought, then nodded. "Seven unique angles, right?"

Jasper let out an appreciative whistle. "Aiight! I thought you were just pretty lucky, but I see you!"

"Oh? You thought I was pretty?" Where the _hell_ did that come from, Rudy wondered, the second the words passed his lips. He was no stranger to terrible puns, but that was… that was almost _banter._ Awful banter, but banter. Jasper just chuckled, and shook his head.

"Yeah, it's all based on where it hits, not how. Lotta people don't pick up on that at first. ComPong's the same way, mostly, but there are a few different rulesets that sometimes take effect. Your average round is just gonna be the basic 'first to eleven,' though. And of course, the big thing is gonna be the controllers..."

"Controllers?"

"Yeah," Jasper responded, and crossed over to the desk the TV sat on. He looked around in a drawer for a few seconds, before retrieving an oddly shaped piece of plastic tangled up in wires, which he promptly tossed towards Rudy. Rudy caught it (barely), and looked it over. The base was thin and black, with an orange button jutting out of the left hand side. The vast bulk of the object was a thick dial which let out a satisfying click when he turned it. It was obviously an old school controller, sure, but the whole contraption put him vaguely in mind of a really awkwardly designed camera. "That's a Paddle."

"Ouch."

Jasper rolled his eyes, but grinned. "Ha, ha. The joystick you were using is pretty retro, but the _old_ controllers were more like this. But real Pong is on so many different things that there are all kinds of ways to play it, right? ComPong's whole thing is taking that to the extreme. Here, check this out." He pulled another device out of the drawer, this time significantly more reverently, and held it up for Rudy to see. It seemed pretty basic - a USB connector on one end, a small grey block, and what looked like an input port for…

"Is… is that for an old PlayStation controller?"

"Yes and no. This baby is called a Volley. It'll actually read _any_ sort of PS2 era novelty controller." 

Huh. "You mean like… Guitar Hero, or something?"

"Exactly!" Jasper beamed. "They've got one of these for just about every controller port you could think of, and they are _hella_ customizable. You can mess with input, time delay, all sorts of settings."

Rudy sat up and leaned forward, resting his head on an arm. "Isn't that sort of over the top? There's only so much you can really do with a game that simple, right."

For the first time, Jasper seemed almost embarrassed. "Well, I mean…" He stopped and bit his lip, until he finally found the words to continue. "Over the top is the point? ComPong's a pretty small scene, and a lot of us want to make it bigger. Like a real e-sport, y'know?"

"And throwing in a gimmick like that makes it more interesting for people to watch, right? Makes sense."

"Yeah!" Jasper grinned again, all traces of embarrassment gone. "It's like, 'oh, damn, what are they gonna bring out next,' y'know? Everyone kinda finds a controller that works for them, and that's their thing. Like the…" He paused for a second, frowning, but continued almost more quickly than Rudy could notice, "the current undefeated champ uses a DDR mat? And the number two player uses a board from one of those old Skate games. It's awesome."

Rudy raised an eyebrow. Handheld, he could get, but… "How would those even work?"

"The board is pretty self-explanatory - lean to either side to move, and grab it for any sort of button press. It's simple, but Raptor is pretty damn skilled with it - she was the undisputed best before River came along." 

"Fair enough! I take it the mat is the same?"

Jasper frowned, and moved to lean against the wall. "Not exactly… that's where the different inputs come in? No one's figured out exactly how he has his Volley set up, which plays a big part in why he's undefeated… see, the way it works is that the loser of each round can decide whether to keep playing with the same controllers, or make their opponents switch with them, right? So if he loses the first round, he sticks them with a controller that isn't intuitive, and then demolishes them with their own controller. And if he wins the first round, which he normally does, he doesn't need the handicap anyway, y'know?"

"Huh. That seems kinda shady." Still, even as he said it, Rudy couldn't help but start trying to think of ways to overcome such a lopsided advantage. He _definitely_ saw the appeal, even if he had trouble wrapping his head around it. "I guess I'd just need to see it to get it?"

All at once, Jasper was more intense than Rudy had ever seen, staring at him with a focus that was almost as embarrassing as it was exhilarating. He felt, rather than heard, his friend almost whisper the phrase "Do you wanna see it?"

When Rudy nodded in response, suddenly not trusting himself to speak, Jasper grinned, and went to sit next to him, pulling his phone out of his pocket and fiddling with it. 

His lock screen, Rudy couldn't help noticing, was a shirtless mirror selfie. There was a lot to unpack there, probably, but he was more than willing to think _that_ through later. 

Eventually, Jasper pulled up a video of a ComPong match that looked like it took place in their dorm building's commons area. There was a small crowd in the way, but Rudy could see pretty clearly that the competitors were the people Jasper had been talking about earlier. 

Raptor looked to be about Jasper's age, and was definitely leaning in to the skater persona. A backwards baseball cap full of pins topped off a sleeveless denim jacket that showed she was one hell of a shredded shredder. He was almost certain that the faint music coming from the screen was an 8-bit rendition of "Basket Case," which, if he was honest with himself, was absolutely perfect. She was tilting from side to side, and as ridiculous as playing Pong with a skateboard seemed as a concept, Rudy couldn't argue with the results. The paddle was always exactly where it needed to be, matching her opponent shot for shot.

Said opponent, River, if Rudy remembered right, was rocking a business casual look that was entirely at odds with his prefered playing style. He was a flurry of footwork, in light grey slacks and a vest, with an obsidian button up and purple tie, spinning and flipping with every movement in a way that shouldn't have been anywhere as efficient as he seemed to make it. Still, despite Raptor's obvious skill, the match was 9-10 in his favor, and he showed no sign of slowing down.

Eventually, one particularly egregious spin brought River's paddle down a section more than Raptor was obviously expecting, and the resulting ricochet landed him the victory, to a roar of cheers from the crowd. Rudy whistled in appreciation, only realizing it after Jasper shut the video off with a chuckle. "The rest of the match was pretty straight forward, but it's cool, huh? Toni - Raptor - did a hell of a job."

"Yeah, no, that was impressive. I can't believe the other guy could move like that!"

Jasper shrugged. "Yeah, he's… not bad. But hey, what do you think? Still interested?"

"Yeah? Definitely seems like a fun time."

"Awesome!" Jasper leaned to the side, and gently shoulder-checked Rudy. "There's a small tourney at the end of the month, if you wanna sign up! It'd be a good way to get started!"

Rudy mentally ran through his schedule - no major tests for the next few weeks, and enough of his coursework was done in advance that he could definitely afford the time. Finally, he nodded, with a confident grin. "Sounds like a blast! Sign me up!"

"Dude, _yes._ So, what time do you wanna swing by tomorrow?"

"Huh?"

"Training, bro! I'm not gonna let you just show up and get creamed. It's ComPong boot camp from here on out. We ain't gonna rest until you can beat me."

Rudy nodded again, confidence rushing away in an instant as Jasper fixed him with another piercing stare. Suddenly, he wasn't sure what he'd signed himself up for. "S...sure! Sounds fun."

It was going to be a long, long month. 


	2. Straight In At Pong-Oh-Pong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while.
> 
> I figure we could all use some bright, bright Pong, on this dark, dark day. 
> 
> Stay safe out there, folks. Take care of yourselves, physically and mentally.
> 
> If all goes well, there'll be more ComPong sooner, rather than later.

The next two weeks had been a whirlwind. Class and homework were a given, of course, an exhaustion that Rudy was already prepared for, but Jasper hadn't been joking when he said they'd be training. Every shared block of free time was spent in one of their rooms, a fact that hadn't gone unnoticed by their classmates, and for the sake of his own sanity, Rudy had resolved to keep his door ajar whenever the two of them found themselves in his room. He wasn't embarrassed that people seemed to think he was hooking up with Jasper, but it felt like every question or knowing wink just emphasized the fact that he wasn't.

He _liked_ ComPong, sure, and he was definitely starting to get the hang of it, but he'd have been lying if he hadn't given it a shot solely to get close to the upperclassman. College was busy enough without a hypercompetitive new hobby, y'know? It didn't help that Jasper sent out more mixed messages than a biracial telemarketer, and Rudy genuinely had no idea where they stood. Friends, certainly, but Jasper would go from openly flirtatious to weirdly distant, bouncing between the two extremes like… 

Well, like a pixelated ping pong ball, fittingly enough.

At first, Rudy had thought Jasper's reactions were tied to his progress with the game, but closer observation showed that it was nothing so predictable. Jasper had been full of praise as Rudy picked up on the quirks of the actual ComPong software - it was noticeably faster than the original, with significantly less input lag, and an overall feel that was just more _smooth_ \- but Rudy would have been hard-pressed to call it more affectionate than normal.

Then again, what _was_ normal, really? They'd only been talking for about a month, after all, it wasn't as if he had a good baseline for how Jasper acted around people, and Rudy wasn't exactly known for his excellent skill at deciphering social cues. There were a lot of times where Rudy had found himself asking just what the hell he was doing.

Which led, of course, to this morning's events.

"What the hell am I doing," he whispered, more than a little surprised that even that little noise didn't disturb the walls of dust that surrounded them. Jasper let out a hum that was equal parts cheerful and questioning, but any curiosity he may have had didn't stop him from marching further into the store. Rudy, for his part, simply shook his head in disbelief, and looked around, taking in all of Multiplaya ;)'s… splendor.

The entire store, he felt, looked like the inside of a van that hadn't been cleaned since the 80's. It wasn't just the wall to wall faux-velvet carpet, the pervasive smell of cherry air freshener covering up the even more obvious smell of weed, or even the awful garage band cover of his least favorite Journey song blasting from the speakers, though none of that helped matters. No, his biggest complaint was what must have been years worth of fast food burger wrappers littering the place, which, in fairness, drew the eye away from the crinkled, sun-bleached posters advertising ancient video games that lined the wall, at least wherever there wasn't laminated printouts of 90's era superheroines. Rudy scanned the room just to double check, and no, there wasn't a comic to be found, just tons of used video games and even more used board games. Jasper waved him over to the far wall, and then ducked through the beaded curtain leading to the…

oh, god.

To the "Very Important Playas ;)" section.

Rudy sighed, a full-bodied breath full of defeat, and followed. "If anything I touch is even remotely sticky," he muttered to himself, "I'm out of here."

The VIP section, to his delight, seemed like it had actually been cleaned at some point this century. There wasn't a carpet to be seen, and the leather couches that were spread throughout the room were mercifully free of visible stains, though one of them _did_ have someone asleep on it, head covered by an issue of GQ. Jasper flashed him a quick grin as he entered, before turning back to the clearly disinterested cashier. Rudy took the opportunity to keep looking around, noting that the old-ass CRT TV across from the snoring lump had a ComPong setup, though both Volleys were empty. Made sense, he supposed - if people were trying to make the game better known, on campus or beyond, advertising it at the local game store, sketchy though it was, was a good call. He shrugged, before joining his friend at the counter. "Hey, what's up?"

The cashier gave him a curt nod, and turned back to her computer. "Juggles here is in the middle of signing you both up for the tournament next week, and I'm looking to see if we have a Volley that'll work for you. He said you're using an old, regular-ass joystick?" Oh, he thought, that's why we're here.

"Er, yeah," he replied, filing the "Juggles" comment away for later. "I know that's pretty boring though, so if that'd be too much hassle…"

She shook her head, thoughtfully. "Nah, that'll actually be pretty cool. Everyone else is going unique, so a basic controller makes for a good baseline, y'know? Retro. Here." She tossed him a small box, which he barely managed to catch - people, he felt, really needed to stop throwing ComPong stuff at him. "First one's on the house. Have you thought about your handle yet?"

Rudy blinked - no one had mentioned anything like that to him. "Handle?"

Jasper had the tendency to look sheepish, while the cashier grinned in a way that Rudy couldn't help but think of as sinister. "Oh, yeah. That's a vital part of the scene, didn't he warn you? All of the players have an official nickname. Steps, Rally, Dribble… Raptor... there's a long list."

"Lemme guess," Rudy said dryly, as he glanced to Jasper. "Juggles?"

"Juggernaut," she answered. "Wanna tell him why, Jasp?"

He sighed in resignation, and shot Rudy a shy smile. "Apparently because I'm 'a huge goddamn nerd,' wasn't it, Toni?"

The cashier - Toni, and Rudy can't quite place why that's making him on edge -gave him a noncommittal shrug. "I mean _yes,_ but we all are. Did he seriously not tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

Toni shook her head, and gestured to Jasper. "All you, big guy."

Trapped, Jasper sighed, and looked up the corner of the room, avoiding eye contact. "I was undefeated for the better part of three years?"

Rudy blinked in surprise, and stared at the other man. "Wait, really? What happened?" He cringed, even as he said it - Jasper was a good teacher, but when they’d actually played against each other… well. Rudy had won every time. He had definitely gotten the feeling Jasper’s theory was better than his actual game. 

Jasper, for his part, seemed confused by the question. “I mean, I lost? Raptor here got into the scene and kicked my ass a couple years back. You know,” he added with a fiendish grin, “before my hand-picked protege wiped the floor with her.”

  
Rudy, however, had entirely stopped listening once he realized what “Raptor” meant, and why Toni had seemed so familiar. “Wait,” he whispered, eyes wide, “You’re the skateboarder!”

Toni shot him a lazy thumbs up. "Guilty. I take it Juggles warned you about me?"

Holy crap. Holy _crap._ "No," Rudy managed, shaking his head so forcefully he was worried he might break his neck. "He showed me a few of your matches and _holy crap_ it is an honor to meet you and how did you get so - I mean - wow." He was acutely aware that he was fanboying out, but he was far too thrilled to be as embarrassed as he probably should have been. Shame could come _later,_ Raptor was in front of him _now._ "I'm. I'm a big fan."

Toni waved a hand, as if to say he was being ridiculous, but couldn't keep the pleased smile from her face. "Well, I'm glad _someone_ shows a little respect for the champs."

" _Former_ champ," Jasper interjected, frowning. "Remember?"

Judging by the wink Toni shot him, that comment didn't even come close to knocking the wind out of her sails. "More recent than you, Jasps. And for the record, don't think I didn't catch you trying to take credit for River beating me, bud. Not sure that's a can of worms you wanna open."

If anything, Jasper frowned even harder, before folding his arms and letting out a petulant huff. "I'm the one who taught him everything he knows, remember?" 

"You taught me everything _you_ knew, Compton. There's a difference."

The voice was emphatically not like chocolate. A deep, warm bass, certainly. Soothing, rich, and intriguing, yeah, for sure. And did it make him want to drizzle it all over something sweet - or maybe salty - only to take it all back off, lick by agonizingly slow lick? No comment.

But chocolate? No. After all, Rudy didn't like chocolate.

The three of them turned to the beaded curtain, Toni amused, Jasper somewhere between mortified and furious, and Rudy… Well. He wasn't entirely sure if he was hungry or thirsty. 

River was roughly the same height as Jasper, but far more slender, an effect that was only heightened by his tight-fitting obsidian dress pants, matching vest, and violet button up. His grip tightened on the strap of his immaculate white messenger bag, while an expression that somehow managed to be equal parts annoyed and entirely disinterested graced his features. A perfectly sculpted eyebrow lowering only long enough to send a genuine smile Toni’s way. Jasper, on the other hand, only got a curt nod before River turned his attention to Rudy, and extended a hand. “River Regal. I take it you’re my replacement?” 

Rudy gaped for a second, before rallying enough to meet the handshake. God, he was _warm._ “Rudy Richter - and no way - I’m still way too new to the game! It’s nice to meet you.”

River’s eyes widened in apparent confusion, before he gave a low hum of acknowledgement. “I see. That’s how it’s gonna be, I see.” He sighed, and shook his head, and turned his attention to Jasper. “Doesn’t look like you’ve sunk your claws into this one _too_ badly. What, losing your touch?”

Jasper hissed something Rudy couldn’t quite make out, then grabbed River by the hand and drug him away from the counter. Rudy watched, bemused, as the two started arguing under their breath, and turned back to Toni. “Is this… normal?”

She shot him a sympathetic smile, and rubbed the back of her head. “They’re prone to drama, yeah. There’s… history? I guess?”

“Yeah, I picked up on that. Jasper got River into the game, right?” 

“Something like that. More that… well. Would you believe they used to date?”

“Wow.” _That_ was a thought that would short circuit his brain if he processed it right now. He glanced back to their whispered debate, which was clearly getting heated. Still, there was one part of that revelation that was worth going into - he finally had an answer to something he’d wondered the entire time he’d known Jasper. “So, Jasper _is_ into guys, then?”

Toni huffed, and rolled her eyes. “I mean, as much as he can be into anything that isn’t himself. Look…” She frowned, biting her lip slightly before carefully continuing. “Don’t bark up that tree, kid. They’re two of my best friends, but between them they maybe have the emotional intelligence of a toddler.”

Rudy opened his mouth to protest, but found he couldn’t really argue with the assessment. Sure, he didn’t know River very well, but his friendship with Jasper had been a master class in confusion. Still… What sort of friend would he be if he didn’t - 

His train of thought derailed as River walked up behind him, threw an arm around his neck, and whispered directly into his ear. “Sorry kid, I’m borrowing you.” Rudy nodded, not trusting himself to talk, and was suddenly very glad he’d finally come to terms with the queer thing. He could only imagine how embarrassing it would have been if he’d still been in denial, and had a crisis of self and sexuality right then and there. Things were hard enough as it was - especially when River gently maneuvered him over to one of the empty couches. “Don’t take this too personally, alright?” 

He started to point out that he didn’t know what he wasn’t supposed to take personally, before River parked them in front of the TV, and let go of him, reaching into his messenger bag and pulling out a folded piece of…

oh

wow

Okay, that was the dance mat and a Volley. It was Pong time. 

“Sorry to drag you into our mess, but Compton volunteered you for a quick set. You up for it?"

Playing against the champion? Already? After two weeks of playing? He wasn't even remotely up for it, in all honesty. But there wasn't a single person in that tiny room that he was willing to disappoint - with the possible exception of the snoring lump on the other couch. If they wanted him to play, well… 

Well, there was one slight problem.

"I mean, yeah, but I don't have my controller."

The other two men shared a brief sheepish look before they each remembered that they weren't friends. "You, uh. You should really just start bringing that with you, Rudes," Jasper muttered. "Gotta be prepared. That's rule one."

Rudy raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "If I'd known where we were going, or why, I'd probably have brought it, man. Not like you told me what was happening."

River's snort was significantly less dignified than the rest of his demeanor. "Yeah, that sounds about right. You haven't changed at all, have you, Compton?"

"What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean, Regal?" 

“Okay,” Toni interjected, “Nope. We’ve talked about this. You both _know_ I’m not getting paid enough to deal with your crap right now.” The others murmured apologies, while she turned her attention to Rudy. “As much as they’re a pain, they’re right - people who are into ComPong tend to bring their stuff with them, in case there’s an opportunity for a match. It seems silly, but we’re all trying to spread the word, y’know? Here.” She tossed him a joystick from the same drawer she’d gotten the Volley, and grinned. “Normally you’d be on your own, but Juggles talked you up enough that I wanna see how you play. Good luck!”

“Oh, thanks!” Rudy nodded, and got the controller ready while River fiddled with the TV to get the game set up. It wasn’t quite an exact match for the one he had back in his dorm room, but the thicker grip fit slightly more comfortably in his hand, and he felt the same amount of resistance when he moved it, so it would definitely work. Hell, if he was lucky, it might even be an improvement. At the champ’s urging, Rudy tossed over the Volley’s plug, before sitting down. He only felt slightly awkward when he realized that his opponent would obviously be standing, but hey, he picked his own controller. He knew what he was getting into. 

“Joystick, huh? That’s a hell of a throwback. Retro though, I dig it.” River smiled, and Rudy tried his hardest to ignore it. “I know you’ve mostly been practicing solo - have you played a full set before?”

“Nah, but I get the gist. Best of three, first to eleven points, right?”

“Well, yeah, sure,” River said, “But the big thing is that the loser of each round gets to decide if we trade controllers, or keep ours.” He paused, and realization flashed across his face. “Of course, you probably haven’t had a chance to set your Volley up yet, so…”

“No need.” Rudy spoke before he had time to think it through, but, he realized, he didn’t need to. “You wanna see where I’m coming from, right? It’s not like I’ve been practicing with a custom control set! If you’re ready, I’m ready.”

River gave him an appraising stare, ultimately nodding to himself, and grinning wickedly. “If you say so! But if you haven’t played anyone but Compton, you’re in for a rude awakening. A) I’m not gonna go easy on you and B) I’m better than him regardless.” 

“Hey!”

Rudy ignored the interjection (and Toni’s immediate laughter), and shrugged. Trash talk, he could do. “Maybe, but hey, so am I. Ready to be dethroned?”

“HEY!”

River laughed out loud, and bit his lip. “Okay, Rudy. Best of three. Let’s play ball.”

It was becoming routine, over the past few weeks, for Rudy to filter everything else out once the game started up. All he could see was black and white, all he could feel was the joystick in his hands. But this time? The hyperfocus was still there, to an extent, but he was definitely feeling _something_ he couldn’t quite place. Whatever it was only intensified as he missed the first point, and even more so when he missed the fourth. He frowned, grip tightening, as he did his best to rally, hand subtly shifting to match each of River’s frantic steps. 

And damn, what a lot of steps there were. 

Rudy gathered pretty quickly that there was far more to River’s control scheme than just stepping in the direction he wanted the paddle to move. Hell, he’d figured that out just from watching a couple of his matches - if that had been all of it, then River would have been deliberately playing worse, just for the sake of looking flashy. Sure, it was pretty clear that flash was a good two thirds of the game, but Rudy didn’t peg him as the type to slow himself down for anything. He blinked, and his focus expanded - he split his time between the screen and his opponent, stealing glances every time he blocked the ball. It wasn’t clear at first, but…

“Hm.” Rudy flashed back to the screen, returning the ball again, and counted in his head. One-two-three-four, one-two-three-four… five counts later, and he couldn’t help but smile. He was pretty sure he had it. Now he just had to figure out why he was off his own game. Damn. Point.

When his focus returned to the screen, he embraced it, blocking the rest of the room out entirely. At this point, he’d seen enough - the Light was all that was left. Well, the light, and his nerves, of course. Playing against River wasn’t like playing Jasper - he wasn’t entirely sure River had been wrong about his teacher taking it easy on him. Jasper’s playstyle, or at least what Rudy had seen of it, was largely aggressive, and lacked subtlety, while his own was more focused on sending the ball where it needed to go, lining up the paddle so it hit in exactly the right spot. River, if anything, was somewhere in the middle - mostly focused on precision, but punishing any mistakes mercilessly. It wasn’t anywhere near what Rudy was used to, and he had to admit, it was throwing him off. It definitely didn’t help that he was being watched, let alone by, apparently, the three best players of the game. He didn’t want to slip up at the best of times, especially in front of… okay, “role models” was ridiculous, it was a video game, but still. Role models. He wanted to be worthy of them, to be taken seriously, to show them that they weren’t wasting their time on him. And to do that, he had to play better than he was. He had to…

Wait. 

Typically, when they were in a pattern like this, Jasper would return the ball at an angle, but this time, the ball was too close. He’d miss an angled shot by a pixel, which meant… Rudy licked his lips, barely registering the single thin drop of sweat that had fallen from his brow to the corner of his mouth. If he was wrong, he’d look foolish, but if he was right. Well. 

He pulled his hand back, and the paddle moved down to mirror it. The ball hit River’s paddle exactly where Rudy thought it would, which sent it straight, rather than at an angle - if he had kept moving up, he’d have missed it, but now he was just where he needed to be! The ball hit, angled down, just out of River’s reach, and with that…

**River: 5. Rudy: 1.**

He wasn’t sure if it was his own confidence growing, or River’s shrinking, but that one paid dividends, and it wasn’t long before they were neck and neck. By the time it was eight to ten, they’d built up one hell of a rhythm - moving almost in unison, each player matching the other in a dance that Rudy couldn’t help but find exhilarating. It had never been like that with Jasper - fun, sure, but this was on a whole new level. When he finally missed, and River took the winning point, he couldn’t even be upset - he just wanted to get to the next round. 

“Gotta say,” River gasped, “neither of you were kidding. Not bad, Rudy.”

“Thanks, man,” he replied, finally taking a second to breathe, “don’t say I didn’t warn ya.”

River chuckled, and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. “We switching for round two, or you sticking with what you know?”

“I’m good.”

“You got it. Let’s go!”

The second round, much to Rudy’s surprise, didn’t go quite the same way. While it started roughly the same, block for block, Rudy had found himself reading River’s moves more accurately, and his instinctive angling of his hits led him to take an early lead. Being more accustomed to his opponent’s plays definitely helped, since he was able to devote all of his attention to the screen. The greater his lead became, the more reckless River’s moves became, and Rudy took every opportunity he could to capitalize on that. One particularly brutal point led to a muttered stream of (admittedly intriguing _and_ delectable) profanity from his opponent, and Rudy took the opportunity to check the score as the next ball popped into play.

**River: 3. Rudy: 10.**

Whaddya know. 

Neither one of them was much surprised when Rudy scored his eleventh point. For as flustered as Rudy felt, though, River simply looked thoughtful as he offered a sincere congratulations. “I’ll be honest, not how I expected this game to go. I’m impressed, but I’m not out yet. Ready for the last round?”

Rudy nodded, not wanting to get out of the zone. He had a real chance!

At least, he did, up until River said “Let’s switch. I wanna see how well you can adapt.”

Jasper groaned, and Rudy remembered that they still had an audience. “Seriously? Just because you’re getting whipped…”

River frowned and glanced over to him. “Excuse me?”

Jasper glared, and crossed his arms. “You heard me. You know you’re gonna lose, so you’re making him use your ridiculous dance thing. You know no one’s been able to use that right.”

“It does seem kinda sketch from where I’m standing,” Toni chimed in. 

“Look, it’s usable. I use it! That’s the entire point! Just because you two haven’t figured out how it works… Whatever.” He rolled his eyes, and turned back to Rudy. “We don’t have to switch if you don’t want to.”

Rudy shrugged, and stood up, gesturing to his now vacant seat. “Not like anyone else is gonna give me the option, right? Take a load off. Looks like you need it, anyway.”

River laughed, but gracefully took his spot on the sofa. “You got jokes, huh. Alright, let’s do this - but he was right when he said no one else has figured my mat out.”

Humming in acknowledgement, Rudy took his place in the center of the mat. “We’ll see. Ready?”

“Go.”

He _really_ hoped he was right this time.

The second the ball appeared, Rudy started the four-count back up in his head, moving on instinct. Down, down, down, left, and the paddle went down. Left, left, left, up, and down it went again. Up, up, up, right… wait, wait, wait, down... he grinned, as the paddle continued to descend. It was a hell of a gamble, but his instincts had been right. The fact that there _was_ a rotation was obvious enough, but he hadn’t been entirely sure if it was input-based or time-based. Now that he was standing there, though, it was definitely time-based - and _that_ was all he needed. He deflected River’s initial serve with ease, and had the audacity to send a grin and a wink his way. “Doesn’t seem too hard to me.”

River’s jaw dropped, while Jasper and Toni cheered. He shook his head, glared at the screen, new determination on his face, and growled under his breath, as he just barely blocked the ball. “I’ll show you hard.” 

Rudy flushed, and almost forgot how he was supposed to be moving - looked like he could account for a twist or two, but hadn’t factored his own libido into his plans. He rallied, barely, and the real game was on.

He had to admit - figuring the controller out was one thing, but actually _using_ it was another. He wasn't a dancer, by any means, and while he wouldn't have called himself uncoordinated, he couldn't help almost tripping over his own feet a few times, and he lost the tempo more than once. Eventually, even though Rudy was giving it his all - not to mention sweating up a storm, River managed to pull ahead. It was close though, and Rudy couldn't help but be proud of the final score: 11 to 9. It wasn't bad at all, as far as he was concerned, especially against the undefeated champion. River seemed to think so as well - as soon as the match was over he set the controller down and stood up, moving to shake Rudy’s hand while staring him down with a downright terrifying intensity. 

“That,” he said, “was a hell of a match. I’m gonna have to rethink my rotation.”

Rudy grinned, and rubbed the back of his head. “Thanks, man. It was a lot of fun! But I gotta ask, how do you manage to play like that all day and not get exhausted?”

“Honestly, I spend a lot of time working on my stamina. Takes a lot to get me winded,” River winked. “If you wanna hang some time, I’d be happy to work you through some exercises - really get you to master that joystick. Here -” As Rudy’s brain conspired to knock him out, River grabbed a notebook and pen from his bag, and scribbled something down on a sheet of paper, before ripping it out and handing it over. “Text me some time! After the tourney, of course - don’t want you learning all of my secrets before then.”

Rudy nodded dumbly, and pocketed the paper. “Will do, thanks! But, uh. Is that gonna be cool with. Y’know.” He nodded back to the counter where the others were, but couldn’t bring himself to break eye contact. “Jasper kinda being my mentor?” 

A brief moment of annoyance crossed River’s face, but he shrugged past it. “Compton’s an ass, but at the end of the day, we both want more people playing ComPong, especially when they’re good at it. Besides, it’s not like we don’t still already have friends in common… Besides, if you’re really worried, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, right?”

“He’s literally right there, dude.”

“You sure about that? I thought you were observant.” Rudy couldn’t quite tell if River’s voice was amused, annoyed, or both, but he finally turned to look at the others. Or, more accurately, other. 

Toni shrugged, alone at the counter, and smiled sadly. “It looked like you were gonna win for a second there, and Juggles… well. He had to go. Sorry, Rudy. Come on, let’s finish getting you signed up, huh? Trust me, you really don’t wanna miss next week.”

Rudy nodded, silent, as he walked back to the counter. He wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that his new hobby had gotten significantly more complicated.


End file.
